Sting has more money than God; his great grandkids are presumably going to be set for life just on the royalties from Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” alone. So if Sting comes out with a new record, you can rest assured that he actually wants to come out with a new record. Today, Sting announces that he’ll return this fall with a new LP called The Bridge, and he’s also shared its first single.

The Bridge follows 2019’s My Songs, the LP where Sting revisited older tracks. This one is a different story. It’s all originals, and Sting wrote all the songs during the pandemic. The LP features Sting’s longtime guitarist Dominic Miller, as well as a set of ace musicians like Branford Marsalis and Josh Freese. Maya Jane Coles co-produces one track, which ought to be interesting. There’s also a bonus-track Otis Redding cover. First single “If It’s Love” is a smoothed-out and relatively sprightly pop song with a whole lot of whistling. Talking about the song, Sting says:

I’m certainly not the first songwriter to equate falling in or out of love with an incurable sickness, nor will I be the last. “If It’s Love” is my addition to that canon where the tropes of metaphorical symptoms, diagnosis, and downright incapacity are all familiar enough to make each of us smile ruefully.

Listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Rushing Water”
02 “If It’s Love”
03 “The Book Of Numbers”
04 “Loving You”
05 “Harmony Road”
06 “For Her Love”
07 “The Hills On The Border”
08 “Captain Bateman”
09 “The Bells Of St. Thomas”
10 “The Bridge”
11 “Waters of Tyne” *
12 “Captain Bateman’s Basement” *
13 “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” *

* Deluxe bonus track

The Bridge is out 11/19 on A&M/Interscope/Cherrytree.